London, c.1785. The famous Porcelain Tower of Nanjing, built from porcelain bricks during the Ming dynasty in the 15th century. Destroyed in 1856, during the Taiping Rebellion, there are currently plans to rebuild it. Engraved by Sparrow for 'Millar's New Complete & Universal System of Geography'.MILL0006

Paris, 1748. Johan Nieuhoff (1618-72) was a Dutch traveler who made a trip of 2,400 km from Canton to Peking in 1655-1657. His account, published 1665, was the most authoritative description of China. This example was published for Prevost's 'Histoire Generale des Voyages'.NIEU0001

London, c.1747. Johan Nieuhoff (1618-72) was a Dutch traveler who made a trip of 2,400 km from Canton to Peking in 1655-1657. His account, published 1665, was the most authoritative description of China.NIEU0002

Sea chart of the coasts of Vietnam and China to CantonJacques Nicolas Bellin.

Paris, c.1750. The 'Histoire générale des Voyages', written by The Abbé Antoine François Prévost (1697-1763) was published in 15 volumes between 1746 and 1759, with illustrations and maps supplied by Jacques-Nicolas Bellin (1703-72).
Bellin was made hydrographer to the French Navy at 18 and Official Hydrographer of the French King twenty years later. He also contributed 994 articles to Diderot's 'Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers' (1751-72).BELL0196

Amsterdam, 1613, French text edition. An early example of this map of the East Indian islands, first issued 1606. It is highly decorative, with strapwork cartouches for the title, scale and description of the Moluccas, and a vignette sea-battle.HOND0029

Paris, c.1760. From 1669 the Dutch East India Company had a presence at Makassar, and in 1905 the entire island became part of the Dutch state colony of the Netherlands East Indies until Japanese occupation in World War II.BELL0119

Amsterdam, Jodocus Hondius, 1616, First edition. Hondius engraved new plates for his edition of the Bertius atlas 'Tabularum Geographicarum Contractarum', which he sold alongside the Mercator 'Atlas Minor'.BERT0094

Amsterdam, Jan Jansson, 1641. French text edition. Japan, with Korea shown as an island. This is the second state of the plate, introduced 1636; the title and cartouche have been altered, and a galleon has replaced the original junk in the sea under the island, although the Latin description underneath still refers to the Japanese craft.HOND0039